David Petraeus scandal: Gen John Allen returns to Kabul

Gen John Allen, the US general under investigation for potentially
inappropriate emails with a woman linked to a CIA sex scandal, has returned
to Kabul to take up his duties as commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan.

David Petraeus and Gen John AllenPhoto: Getty Images

6:33PM GMT 21 Nov 2012

Earlier this month the Pentagon announced an investigation into the general's correspondence with Jill Kelley, a key figure in the sex scandal that forced the resignation this month of CIA director David Petraeus, a retired four-star general.

Gen Allen had been in Washington for a Senate hearing on his nomination to be the next Nato supreme allied commander in Europe, but the White House requested the hearing be postponed after Leon Panetta, the defence secretary, launched the investigation.

He has maintained he is innocent of any wrongdoing, and Mr Panetta has said he retains "confidence" in the general.

Mr Petraeus, who preceded Allen as ISAF commander in Afghanistan, resigned abruptly from the CIA on November 9 over an extramarital affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell, an Army reservist.

Gen Allen is under investigation over a trove of 20,000 to 30,000 pages of correspondence – mostly emails – between himself and Mrs Kelley, a Florida woman who threw parties for military officers posted at US Central Command.